Vibrant Summer Sunset

How's everyone's Wednesday going:? I, for one, actually have the day off. WOW, thanks so much work! I always love a good Wednesday off.  I'm just sitting around in my pyjamas drinkin' boatloads of coffee and dyeing my hair. Then I'm going to continue to catch up on my dashboard (I'm 4 days behind, what else is new), take some pictures of new makeup, work on an upcoming review, pick up some more primer from the MAC counter, depot some old UDPP's, and go to the gym. Then I'm going to pick out an outfit, re-string some dreads, do my nails, and get my makeup ready for Friday night. I need to have this stuff ready for when I get home from work as there is an awesome goth concert on Friday and I can't be late! From showering time to full on makeup, outfit, and dreads, it can take me two hours (even more the odd time) to get ready! One must be prepared in advance.

Anyway, this summer I've seen many lovely ladies do sunset-inspired makeup looks. I thought I'd contribute a couple of them. Today's will be a vibrant, summery look. Tomorrow's will be a bit darker.....

FACE: MAC Prep and Prime, MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC15, MAC Select Sheer Pressed Powder in NC15.

BROWS: Annabelle Eyebrow Pencil in Medium Brown.

CHEEKS: Evil Shades Blush in Ravishing.

LIPS: MAC Candy Yum Yum lipstick with Rimmel Kiss Off Lipgloss in....8177?? It appears to not have a name.

EYES: Base: UDPP and MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre.
Inner Lid: Silk Naturals Madison.
Middle Lid: Silk Naturals Watermelon.
Outer V: Persephone Minerals Pink Sugar Heart Attack.
Crease: Persephone Minerals Apricot Lush.
Browbone: Persephone Minerals Cloudberry.
Inner Corner and Lower Lashline Persephone Minerals Seahorse.
Waterline: UD 24/ Glide-On Pencil in Perversion.
Upper Lashline: Maybelline Black Liquid Eyeliner.
Upper and Lower Lashes: Maybelline One By One Mascara.

THE EQUIPMENT

THE LIPS

I think the sparkly orange Rimmel gloss looks kinda neat over CYY.

THE EYES

THE LOOK

I looked really stupid in all of the pictures that I took for this. Behold: the least stupid looking one! Still not so great, actually.

Sorry if this post is somewhat lacking in coherence. My husand sort of guy works from home when he isn't on site. His "office" also contains my computer. He silently worked on his computer all day until I decided to write a post. He then decided to call some other engineer person so he could loudly yap about automated systems and various other crap. He mumbles all day long but for f**k's sake is he ever LOUD and ANNOYING on the phone! It is really hard to write about makeup with a bunch of engineering crap being blasted in your ears!!

The Quest for Presentable Nails Continues....

Don't you just love how Blogger put the PUBLISH button right next to the SAVE button? That is annoying.

ANYWAY, I have been working on growing my nails and taking better care of them. I am fairly happy with how things are progressing. Thanks to some great suggestions by fellow bloggers, I have found a base coat that I am happy with (I have been using one called Gelous, thanks to a suggestion from Wendy of Turtle Beauty) but I have not been able to find a new top coat yet as the Sally Beauty Supply conveniently located right by my place of residence (SWEET) is a complete mess and I can't find anything and the people who work there are rude (NOT SWEET). I must keep looking around. I'm still using my Nicole By OPI topcoat and it is not very good. Anyway, here is a bit of a nail progress report. I've been having some fun trying out a couple of brands of nail polish that I have never tried before.

OPI All The Berry Best To You with Nicole Texture Coat in Black Texture

My nails were starting to get longer here. I need to be a bit more careful with cleaning up the skin around the nails. I have been looking at tutorials on this type of thing and it has been helpful. This "texture coat" stuff was really weird but I had to try it as crackle polishes are the big thing these days. To be honest, they kind of remind me of when they were cool the first time and I was 13 or something so this look feels kind of  90's-ish to me. The Nicole polish did not just crackle but it actually dried raised off of the nail for a feelable texture. Feelable isn't a word. Textured nails are weird. I want shiny, smooth nails. I do not like this Texture Coat. I've been up since 5:30 am today, and this may be a factor in the poor coherence of this post.

China Glaze Tempest

Slowly but surely, my nails are getting longer. My right hand is suffering a bit more than my left hand (pictured) as I broke off both my index and middle finger nails awhile back. The polish on my right index finger also takes a beating as I am right-handed. I think the Gelous base coat is helping my nails to break less as they feel stronger when I wear it. It also helps my nail polish last longer. Tempest is pretty neat. It has different sheens in different lighting. I wish it were darker.

OPI Russian Navy with OPI Ink

 

OPI Russian Navy is one of my favourie polishes. I hate navy blue, but Russian Navy is dark blue with kind of a pink shine to it. I love black nail polish but it can get boring so this is a colour I use to change it up but still have dark nails. I use OPI Ink as a topcoat over stuff all the time; it has great dark blue and purple sparkles in it and it always really adds to whatever colour I put it over. I have had some cuticle issues despite trying to push them around with some kind of stick-thinger and moisturizing them with vitamin E. I think I need to be a bit more committed to my moisturizing routine.

Orly Goth and Sally Hansen Nail Effects in Misbehaved

This is my first attempt at doing something a little bit "interesting" with my nails. I enjoy the "accent nail" idea that I have seen on various nail blogs. I thought that this would be a better use for my Sally Hansen Nail Effects in Miss Behaved than doing my all of my fingers in this pattern. I could give my very uneducated opinion on this product if anyone is interested. I have Orly Goth on the rest of my fingers (I just had to buy it because it is called goth, I am super lame). It is black with different sizes of sliver glitter in it. I am not happy with the shapes of some of my nails as I am still practicing doing different shapes. I have learned to use a crystal nail file and to FILE WITH POLISH ON! This is a great tip I learned from Evil Angel's tutorials.

In summary, I am pretty happy with my nails, I have NEVER in my LIFE had nails this long and I've never been good about keeping them nicely done. I don't have that much time to do them so sometimes I unfortunately sport some ratty polish, but it just cannot be helped. I am finding it hard to type and do certain things as I am not used to having them this long.

To end this post, I thought I'd round up some of the ways in which I tend to ruin my nails......

10 Great Places and Ways to Break Your Nails or Wreck Your Nail Polish:

1) When using tabs to open cans of diet Coke with lime such that I might mix up a delicious drink.

2) When using free weights at the gym.

3) On broken door latches that people you work with forget to tell you about and then laugh when you exclaim "I BROKE A NAIL!" (actually I broke TWO)

4) When snagging them on razor blades when shaving my legs.

5) On zippers on clothes and bags.

6) On the hooks and eyes that are used for doing up bras.

7) On the various laces, zippers, hooks, studs, spikes, etc. that are involved in goth clothing and goth footwear.

8) When installing dreadfalls.

9) When opening shrink-wrapped containers of eyeshadow.

10) While helping my significant other fix the car. (RIGHT AFTER I DID MY NAILS!!!)

What are some of the ways that you tend to break/ruin your nails?

A Tale of Goth Awkwardness and A Look with Metallique and Nyx Jumbo Pencils

Gather around the fire my friends, and I shall tell you a tale of great awkwardness. Once upon a time, many (aka: a few) years ago, there was a wonderful, fantastic club in the city in which I now live. We shall call said place Club X. Every time I travelled to this city for concerts and shopping, I would be sure to attend their goth nights which were held SACRELIGIOUSLY EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT! They also held concerts there of the punk, metal, rockabilly, and industrial types and they even had an upstairs lounge in which persons who enjoy dressing up in vintage and rockabilly themed outfits could listen to their music. The owners were fabulously nice; when we wanted to see VNV Nation in concert a few years ago, we were unable to get tickets as we lived in another province but we phoned the owners and they held some for us. There was a thriving goth scene to participate in with the heart of it being this club night; many "prominent", if you will, goths who are always present in the scene would always attend this night (and attend it looking fabulous, I might add!) I even saw many of these fabulous people when I travelled to Montreal for Festival Kinetik, the best goth festival in the world (I was told by some European people I met there that it was WAY better than M'era Luna in Germany, a festival which I DREAM of attending. GO CANADA GOTH SCENE!) Alas, I am off on a tangent. AHEM!

Anyway, right before I was about to move to this lovely city for my horrible new job, I saw an article on the website stating that the club was getting closed down!!!  NO!!! It could not be! Apparently they got bought out or something. I was heartbroken. However, Club X relocated and continued on as usual, or so I thought, as I attended the regular Saturday night goth-a-thon after going to the Rammstein concert when I was finding a place to live for when I moved. I did notice, however, that the DJ's were different.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago (or I guess it should be rewind backward at this point, whatever).....I had been very busy with moving and arranging crap with my job and getting furniture from Ikea such that I would not have to sit on the floor. I had not had time to attend my Saturday night goth industrial dance party as I had been longing to, but finally, I was going to go (despite the fact that I had to work the next day, I had a bit of a "special" Sunday that day). I got all goth-ified and we set out for the new location of Club X.

Upon arriving, I walked through the doors and it was dark and my eyes needed a moment to adjust. Something seemed....not quite right. I went to the bar to get a drink, sipped upon it, and turned around.  What was that smell? Was it......patchouli?? What are these ladies wearing? Feather hair extensions? No makeup? Flat shoes? Huge, unwieldly glasses? What are these sounds that I am hearing......*my ears began to bleed*.....is that....no, it couldn't be.......INDIE MUSIC!!!!???? I began to panic a bit......where was the bass? THE SYNTH??? I COULD NOT DANCE TO THIS!!! DOES NOT COMPUTE!!! I turned to face the band that was playing on stage. They looked like they had fallen out of an American Apparel ad. I saw many eyes upon me. It was then that I realized.......it was NOT goth industrial dance music night, it was an INDIE CONCERT!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

All I have to say is AWK-WARD!!! Needless to say, I was not exactly DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION! I looked just a LITTLE BIT out of place! The girl working the door felt my awkwardness and was nice enough to refund my cover and point me towards another bar that the goth people have migrated to for Saturday nights. It is a new wave night where they play some industrial, some indie, some rockabilly, some 80's and other sweet stuff. It was quite a refreshing mix and the goth people and the indie people danced together in harmony, the smell of clove smokes intertwined with the sent of patchouli, and I was pleased. I saw the DJ's that I remembered and apparently Club X pissed off a lot of goth people by starting to only do Saturday goth nights if they didn't have a band playing, which is like, never. They also got rid of the DJ's unfortunately. Some nice goth ladies in the bathroom told me about the NEW goth night at another club that I used to go to concerts at. As we touched up our makeup, she told me it was the same DJ's as the new wave night but it is on Friday and they play ALL industrial! YES! The awkward story has a happy ending for everyone!

Uh, that was a bit long. On to the makeup!

FACE: MAC Prep and Prime, MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15, MAC Select Sheer Pressed Powder in NC15.

BROWS: Bonne Bell Eye Definer in Black.

CHEEKS: Sobe Botanicals Lip and Cheek Colour in Metallique. I was sweating before I used this as it was my first time trying it on my cheeks and I didn't want to ruin my goth look! I think it looked pretty neat. It was a bit tricky to blend over my powder, though. I also sprinkled some fallout from Urban Decay's Uzi eyeshadow on my cheeks for some sparkle.

LIPS: Sobe Botanicals Lip andCheek Colour in Metallique and MAC Lipmix in Back.

CLEAVAGE: Sparkly glittery gel stuff that comes from a pretty compact from a Lise Watier holiday collection from several years ago.

EYES: Primer: UDPP
Base: MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre.
Coloured Bases: NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk under the browbone and on the inner eye towards the bridge of the nose. NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean on the lid and crease. 
Inner Lid: Tinsel from the Sleek Sparkle Palette.
Middle Lid: Star Light from the Sleek Sparkle Palette.
Outer V: Glitz and Glamour blended in to Noir; both from the Sleek Sparkle Palette.
Browbone: Tinsel from the Sleek Sparkle Palette.
Inner Corner: Arissa eyeliner pencil in Platinum.
Lower Lashline: Too Faced Unicorn Tears. I extended the line out with a silver glitter from the NYX glitter cream palette called One Night in Luxy.
Waterline: UD 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Perversion.
Upper Lashline: Maybelline Black Liquid Eyeliner with Lise Watier Glitter Eyeliner in Black Diamond over top.
Upper and lower lashes: Maybelline The Falsies Flared Mascara.
Fake Lashes: Elise brand. I hate these with a passion. They are SO uncomfortable and the band is huge and they are heavy and I suffer when I wear them. I do love to suffer for fashion, but I am already suffering enough from the boots, waist cincher, and dreads so these falsies just about push me over the edge of my discomfort tolerance.

I was SUPER nervous about using the NYX Jumbo Pencils. I had never used them before and I don't like to try things out when I'm not sure how they work because when you've got a LOT going on already, you just can't have creasing. I like to look like a hot mess and all, but when I do my goth stuff I try to be a little bit more particular. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule, sometimes the only time I can try out new stuff that isn't work safe is goth club time. I am happy to report that they have passed my Goth Club Test. After messing around with these further, I think the trick is to not put on too much as a thick layer creases quite easily. Why did I not get Black Bean earilier? Nothing goths up any eyeshadow colour like a black base!

THE EQUIPMENT

The Sleek Sparkle Palette
Top row from left to right: Cranberry, Dream Maker, Galactic, Twinkle, Star Light, Noir
Bottom row from left to right: Illusion, Festive, Mistletoe, Glitz and Glamour, Gold Ribbon, and Tinsel.

THE LIPS

THE EYES

Oh lashes, I abhor thee.

THE LOOK

Do my eyes look half closed? Well, they are! I was tired, and I HATE these false lashes. They are HEAVY, and they have the thickest, most awful band ever. They NEVER stick near my inner lid no matter what I do. You can see them coming loose ALREADY in the above eye shots.

THE OUTFIT

Dreads: By me.

Headband: Le Chateau.

Dress: Plastik Wrap.

Waist Cincher: Deadly Fetish Designs from Deadly Couture in Vancouver.

Lace Cuff: My friend made it for me.

Spiky Cuff: Walmart.

Stockings: Good question...where did I get these?

Boots: Demonia.

Purse: My good friend Mr. Bodybag from Demonia.



Just a final note: The point of this post is NOT to make fun of the styles and musical tastes of others, I over-exaggerated stuff to make it funny. The indie ladies looked and smelled lovely and I can appreciate anyone's style when they put a look together, regardless of the theme. Also, people in this city don't really care how you dress, I can walk down the main party street looking like this and no one bats an eyelash, everyone already knows about the goth people. No one would have cared or been rude to me if I went to an indie concert like this, I just felt awkward because I was expecting a goth night. As I said, I dance in harmony with the indie people on Saturday nights and I'm putting in a nice little feather hair extension tomorrow ;)

Super Funny Search Terms

Good evening. I am coming at you from a hotel in a small town where I was trying to work on a post regarding goth makeup but something's gone wrong. I'll have to finish it when I am home this weekend. I thought this might be a good time for a post that does not involve pictures.

Every now and again, I look a the "statistics" that Blogger provides us all with that show how many people look at your stuff and where they come from. I am not weird about stats as my blog is just for fun, but the odd time I get a good laugh out of it. Here are some recent search terms that, for reasons I do not fully comprehend, lead people to my blog.

-"Rainbow Concert Zebra Microphone"

-"UV Reactive Orange Pants"

-"15 Years of Zebra Anniversary"

And last, but not least, my favourite:

-"Angry Kabuki Face"

I must say that I had a good laugh over these. I wonder if any of these people found what they were looking for.......

Do you ever check the search terms that people used to find your blog? If so, does anyone have any amusing ones? I'd love to hear them!

Sobe Botanicals Work Safe Look

It's MONDAY! YEAHHhhhhhhhh.....NOT! Monday sucks, who's with me?! My day consisted of waking up at 5:30 am, getting ready, driving 2 hours to work, working 9 hours, and then driving 2 hours home. WORK SUCKS! It especially sucks when you have to start out in a floating position that involves covering other people's shifts and working in different locations day in and day out. It also sucks that many of us must tone down our makeup when we're workin' for THE MAN! LAME! Anyway, here's a look I did for work quite awhile ago using Sobe Botanicals. I used a bit more colour than I would usually for a work look.

FACE: MAC Prep and Prime, MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC15, MAC Select Sheer Pressed Powder in NC15.

BROWS: MAC Eyebrow Pencil in Stud.
CHEEKS: Sobe Botanicals DuoChrome Blush in Nouveau.

LIPS: Guerlain Kiss Kiss Lipgloss in Midnight Butterfly 803.

EYES: Base - UDPP and MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre.
Lid - Sobe Havok eyeshadow.
Outer V- Sobe Sugar Plum Fairy eyeshadow.
Crease - Persephone Minerals Bruised eyeshadow.
Waterline - UD  24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Perversion.
Upper Lashline - Maybelline Black Liquid Eyeliner.
Lower Lashline - UD 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Uzi.
Upper and Lower Lashes - Maybelline The Falsies Mascara.

THE EQUIPMENT

THE LIPS

THE EYES

THE LOOK



Where. Is. My. Coffee.



I have one more look coming up that features Sobe Botanicals' Metallique Lip and Cheek Colour! In case you haven't guessed, it's a goth club look! 

SoBe Botanicals Product Reviews and Swatches

Quite awhile ago, I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Phyrra's blog featuring Sobe Botanicals. The giveaway was for 3 full sized eyeshadows of my choice as well as a full size DuoChrome blush of my choice. The owner of the company emailed me so I could tell her my choices and she also very generously let me choose one of their perfumes to try! On top of that, when I received my package, there was also a full size cheek and lip colour included! I thought it was very generous of the owner to do this and I have been enjoying all of my new Sobe products.

THE PACKAGING



Nicely done!





THE HAUL



Clockwise from upper left corner: Nocturne perfume, DuoChrome Blush in Nouveau, Lip and Cheek Color in Metallique, eyeshadows in Sugar Plum Fairy, Havok, and Zen Fire.



I thought that I would do product reviews on the things I received rather than a full review. I only do full reviews of companies (including customer service, comparison to how colours look on the website, and that kind of thing) if I have actually purchased products from the company with my own funds. "My own funds?" Did I just say that? Wow, that sounded horribly pretentious yet awkward at the same time. I guess that's what the DELETE key is for. ANYWAY, on to some product reviews!

THE EYESHADOWS

THE GOOD: The eyeshadows I chose are all lovely colours with good pigmentation. I found that they applied and blended smoothly. The colours that I picked are shimmery and have a nice sparkle to them. These have passed my "weekday test" without creasing so I am happy with how they wear. The packaging is simple, clean, and professional and the labels are water resistant FOR THE WIN!! The jars also have sifters in them to avoid spillage. The name of the shadow as well as the ingredients are listed on the bottom label.

THE BAD: I tend to get a bit of fallout of the glittery, shimmery bits when I'm blending these. This may be due to the types of primer and base that I use as well as my brush technique but I can't seem to get around this. Also, vegan/lip safety information is not directly on the packaging (I personally could care less about this but I know that some people do).

THE VERDICT: Overall, I'd say that these are good quality eyeshadows that are packaged professionally. I would purchase these and I plan to purchase some in the future.

THE PACKAGING

 

THE SWATCHES



From left to right: Sugar Plum Fairy, Havok, and Zen Fire.



THE BLUSH

THE GOOD: Once again, packaging is simple and professional with a water resistant company label on the top and the colour name with the ingredients on the bottom.  There are sifters in the jars. The colour that I chose is FANTASTIC! I absolutely love the colour and I find it to be flattering on my skintone. There is a really neat sheen to these blushes; when you blend them in they kind of look matte with a shimmering overtone. I can't quite describe the effect I get but it's really nice! I love the consistency and texture as well.

THE BAD: Again, vegan and safety information is not on the packaging which I don't mind but some might. Other than that, I have nothing bad to say about this product.

THE VERDICT: I LOVE THIS STUFF!!! I would purchase blushes from Sobe Botanicals and I plan to in the future.

 

THE PACKAGING

 

THE SWATCHES



DuoChrome Blush: Nouveau



THE CHEEK AND LIP COLOUR

THE GOOD: Once again, packaging is professional and ingredients are listed directly on the water-resistant label. This is a really neat product, in my opinion, as it can be used for both the cheeks and lips. It has a nice, creamy consistency and smells AWESOME! The smell is a light, minty scent and I adore it. I found that it applied smoothly to the lips and can be applied both sheer or more opaque as the product is buildable. I'm also completely in love with the colour and the name.

THE BAD: The texture of the product is nice but I find that it is almost a bit TOO soft, which makes application a bit tricky. Also, the fact that it is packaged in a tube is fine for using a lip brush, but when I tried to apply this to my cheeks using a foundation brush, it was a bit difficult to do so from a tube.  I also found this to be difficult to blend on my cheeks over top of my foundation and powder (MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC15 and MAC Select Sheer Pressed Powder in NC15). It blended well on my bare skin but it is not particularly compatible with my face products and it takes a bit of work to get it to blend nicely. Once again, there is no safety/vegan information on the packaging.

THE VERDICT: Overall, I like this product and would buy other colours despite the fact that it is a bit tricky to use on the cheeks. Also, it's SILVER so I suppose when you use a metallic colour as blush, it's going to be tricky no matter what you use.

METALLIQUE



Left: applied opaquely. Right: blended out.



THE PERFUME

THE GOOD: I love the rollerball packaging as it is very portable and the label looks professional. I think the scent is very nice and I am impressed at how long it lasts, it certainly doesn't wear off quickly! I could easily wear it for 8 hours and still be able to smell it quite well. Sobe Botanicals describes the scent as being feminine but possibly unisex and having notes of orchid, ylang flowers, spice, hints of sweet caramel & dark chocolate, with base notes of woods & patchouli. I can't smell the orchid or much for flowery notes (I do detect the ylang) and I don't notice much of a spiciness to the scent. When I first put it on, I can smell mostly the chocolate and caramel notes and these scents tone down in a couple of hours and then I can smell the woody and patchouli base notes a lot more. I would probably think that this scent is more feminine than unisex, in my opinion. Please note that my description of the scent is very subjective as we are all different in how we perceive scents. Also, perfumes do NOT smell the same on everyone so this is just a description of how it wears on myself.

THE BAD: My husband or whatever he is HATES the smell of this! This is not necessarily ALL bad though, I often slather it on when I'm pissed off at him. Wow, passive-aggressive much?

THE VERDICT: I was impressed with this product and I would purchase another one of Sobe's scents.

NOCTURNE

 



I love that you can get these in a rollerball!



OVERALL: I think that the products I got to try were all nicely made, professionally packaged, and good quality. I am planning on purchasing more DuoChrome Blushes, perhaps some eyeshadows, and of course some GothLips.

Stay tuned for some looks featuring Sobe Botanicals! Has anyone out there ordered from Sobe before? If so, let me know what you think of their products or link to your review or swatches in the comments.

P.S. If you see any cat hair in any of the photos this has NOTHING to do with the company! This is courtesy of  Captain Kirk, mother's little helper.



THE DISCLAIMER:  All products were given to me free of charge as the result of me winning a giveaway. I have not purchased anything from Sobe Botanicals at this time. I am not affiliated with this company in any way. Any questions about my reviews? Please click on the BORING CRAP ALERT tab at the top of the page for more information.